Street protests continue in Myanmar for 2nd day against military coup

Thousands of people have staged street protests for a second day in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, in an outburst of anger towards the military junta’s coup and the detention of civilian leaders.

The protesters on Sunday voiced their objection to the military coup that ousted the elected government, and demanded the immediate release of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

They carried red balloons, the color representing Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD), waving NLD flags and chanting, “We don’t want military dictatorship! We want democracy!”

Drivers honked their horns and passengers held up photos of Suu Kyi. The scenes, broadcast on Facebook, were some of the few that have come out of the Southeast Asian nation as the junta has shut down the internet and restricted phone lines.

Human rights groups condemned the internet restrictions, pointing out the essential function of online networks amid a humanitarian crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Internet access was partially restored on Sunday.

Netblocks reported that the nationwide web and social media blockade had failed to curb protest against the military coup.

"Partial restoration of internet connectivity confirmed in #Myanmar from 2 PM local time on multiple providers following information blackout," the internet monitoring service said on Twitter, adding that social media platforms remained blocked.

Thousands protest against military coup in Myanmar's biggest city

Thousands of Myanmarese people have taken to the streets in the largest city of Yangon to denounce a military coup that ousted the country

“Since the coup, people in Myanmar have been forced into a situation of abject uncertainty,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for campaigns. “An expanded internet shutdown will put them at greater risk of more egregious human rights violations at the hands of the military.”

“We cannot accept the coup,” a 22-year-old protester was quoted by Reuters as saying, asking not to be named for fear of retribution. “This is for our future. We have to come out.”

A woman in her early thirties who had brought her family said, “We have to join the people, we want democracy.”

Elsewhere, about 100 people also took to the streets on motorbikes in the coastal town of Mawlamyine in the southeast. Students and doctors were gathering in the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar.

Another crowd of hundreds of protesters spent the night outside a police station in the town of Payathonzu in Karen state in the southeast.

Myanmar's military says has 'detained' Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained in an early morning raid.

On February 1, the junta detained Myanmar's de facto leader and President Win Myint as well as other senior figures from the ruling party, claiming irregularities in the November election that saw Suu Kyi’s party win a majority of seats.

The military has said it would take control of the country for one year. 

Human rights advocates fear that the coup will worsen the plight of persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, especially Rohingya Muslims.

In 2017, Myanmar's army, joined by Buddhist mobs, launched a brutal clampdown against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. Hundreds of thousands of them were violently uprooted in the months that followed. Thousands were killed in the violence.

The United Nations called it “genocide,” and a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. 

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